1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for processing an elongate photographic photosensitive film by cutting the elongate photographic photosensitive film to films of various preset lengths, and winding ends of the cut films on spools.
2. Description of the Related Art
For producing and packaging a photographic photosensitive film, it has been customary to perform various steps including the steps of producing a film of given length, winding the film, placing the wound film into a film cartridge, and inserting the film cartridge into a case.
These various steps are carried out by a facility comprising a film supply unit for unwinding a film roll of elongate photographic photosensitive film and cutting (trimming) the unwound elongate photographic photosensitive film to a sized film of given length, a film coiling unit for coiling the sized film of given length on a spool thereby to produce a film coil, a cartridge producing unit for staking a cap on an end of a tubular cartridge blank sheet thereby to produce a cartridge with one open end, an assembling unit for inserting the film coil into the cartridge and staking another cap on the open end of the cartridge thereby to produce an assembled cartridge, and an encasing unit for placing the assembled cartridge into a case and attaching a case cap on an open end of the case thereby to produce a packaged product.
For coiling the sized film of given length on the spool, the elongate photographic photosensitive film is delivered through a cutting mechanism by a feeding mechanism, e.g., a sprocket, which is disposed upstream of the cutting mechanism. Then, after an end of the photographic photosensitive film is inserted into a groove in the spool that is placed in an inserting position in a film inserting unit, the photographic photosensitive film is fed a preset length between the inserting position and a cutting position. When the photographic photosensitive film is cut by the cutting mechanism, a sized film of given length is produced with its end inserted in the spool.
Packaged products contain differently dimensioned films having various numbers of frames. For example, commercially available films with 12, 24, 36 frames are widely used in the market, and those sized films of given length can automatically be wound on spools according to the above process.
It has been desired to manufacture packaged products containing sized films of given length having 10 frames or less, e.g., 5 through 10 frames, which will be presented as gifts to consumers. Since, however, sized films of given length having 10 frames or less are considerably short, the portion of the photographic photosensitive film to be cut off is positioned in the cutting mechanism before the end of the photographic photosensitive film is inserted into the groove in the spool. As a result, the system for producing and packaging photographic photosensitive films need to operate according to different sequences for sized films of given length having 12 frames or more and sized films of given length having 10 frames or less, and cannot easily be arranged to manufacture sized films of given length having 10 frames or less.
The system for producing and packaging photographic photosensitive films may be modified by changing the timing of operation of the actuators of the cutting mechanism, etc. for producing and packaging photographic photosensitive films of differently dimensioned films. However, a control process for switching the actuators would be considerably complex.
If the spool is not accurately positioned when the sized film of given length is wound around the spool, then the end of the film is not reliably inserted into the groove in the spool, resulting in a winding failure. If the sized film of given length is wound around a defective spool which is devoid of a flange, then a defective film product is produced. When such a defective film product is produced, the film which is not defective and wound around the defective spool will be discarded, resulting in an uneconomical waste of the film material. If a defective film of given length is wound around a normal spool, then a defective film product is also produced, resulting in a reduction in the yield of film products.
The film coiling unit for winding a sized film of given length around a spool employs a film winding device as disclosed in Japanese patent publication No. 60-53868, for example. The disclosed film winding device has a turntable rotatably mounted on a support plate by a bearing mounted centrally on the support table, a chuck activating means, a spool positioning joint, and a film winding joint which are disposed at predetermined angular intervals on the support plate. The turntable supports thereon a plurality of spool chuck means each comprising a movable chuck and a fixed chuck.
When a spool is supplied concentrically to the spool chuck means that is aligned with the chuck activating means, a solenoid of the chuck activating means is energized to move the movable chuck toward the spool. The spook is chucked by the spool chuck means, and the turntable is rotated to position the spool in alignment with the spool positioning joint. The spool positioning joint has a spool positioning tooth held against the spool. After a support shaft of the spool positioning joint and a support shaft of the movable chuck are electromagnetically coupled to each other by the energization of an electromagnetic coil, the movable chuck is rotated. When the spool positioning tooth engages in a positioning groove of the spool, the spool is stopped against rotation.
The positioned spool is then positioned at the film winding joint in unison with the spool chuck means. Upon energization of an electromagnetic coil, a support shaft of the film winding joint and the support shaft of the movable chuck are electromagnetically coupled to each other. The spool is rotated by a motor, winding a film whose distal end has been inserted into the spool.
In the above proposed film winding device, the chuck activating means has the solenoid for causing the spool chuck means to removably holding the spool. It has been difficult to energizing the solenoid at a high speed in timed relation to the process of supplying the spool. In the spool positioning joint, when the electromagnetic coil is energized, a magnetic attractive plate is magnetized to attract an attractable plate thereby to electromagnetically couple the support shaft of the spool positioning joint and the support shaft of the movable chuck to each other. However, such an arrangement makes the overall spool positioning joint complex in structure.
In a spool positioning station and a film coiling station, a motor shaft for each station and a spool rotating shaft are driven by a belt (timing belt) and sprockets as a drive means for rotating a spool. Therefore, it is difficult to coil the film at a high speed.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide a method of and an apparatus for processing a film to produce various films of different lengths and insert ends of the films reliably into grooves in spools, according to a simple control process and with a simple arrangement.
A major object of the present invention to provide a method of and an apparatus for processing a film to wind a sized film of given length smoothly around a spool for thereby producing a high-quality film product, while reliably preventing a spool positioning failure, etc.
A principal object of the present invention to provide a method of and an apparatus for processing a film to wind a film around a spool easily and reliably and speed up a winding process with a simple arrangement.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown by way of illustrative example.